Industry, Logistics & Shipping

Luxembourg to invest $29m in Dubai Expo 2020

A high-level delegation from Luxembourg is visiting Dubai to meet Expo 2020 organisers and the business community, as part of plans to maximise its €25 million ($29.61 million) investment in the Expo.

The delegation also included high-ranking members of Luxembourg’s Royal Family, said a statement.

As part of the visit, Maggy Nagel, general commissioner of the Luxembourg Pavilion and president of the board of management of Luxembourg at Expo 2020 Dubai, and Najeeb Al-Ali, executive director, Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau, yesterday (October 11) signed Luxembourg’s official participation contract for Expo 2020 Dubai, it said.

Luxembourg is the first country to formally sign a participation contract, although some 120 nations have either publicly or privately confirmed they will take part in Expo 2020 Dubai, which will be the first World Expo in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, it added.

The signing of the contract comes after Luxembourg received approval from Expo 2020 Dubai for the theme and location of its national pavilion. The theme – ‘Resourceful Luxembourg’ – aims to reflect the landlocked country’s status as a smart nation that looks abroad to connect the human, natural, technical, industrial and financial resources it needs to shape its future.

Luxembourg has announced that it will invest €25 million (Dh108 million) in its Expo participation and the delegation is spearheading plans to further enhance the political and economic ties it enjoys with the UAE, as well as maximising benefits before, during and after Expo 2020 Dubai.

Among those joining Nagel on the delegation are HRH Prince Guillaume, Crown Prince of Luxembourg; HRH Princess Stéphanie, Crown Princess of Luxembourg; Etienne Schneider, deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy; François Bausch, Minister of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure; and Elisabeth Cardoso Jordão, Ambassador of Luxembourg to the UAE.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of the Expo 2020 Dubai higher committee, said: “The signing of Luxembourg’s official participation contract is yet another important milestone on our journey to Expo 2020 Dubai and beyond. Luxembourg was one of the first nations to publicly commit to participating in Expo, so we are delighted that they are also the first to sign a participation contract.

“We look forward to working closely with all stakeholders in Luxembourg as their theme and pavilion take shape, and the even stronger bilateral relations that their participation at Expo 2020 Dubai will create between the UAE and Luxembourg,” he said.

“With so many countries having either publicly or privately confirmed their participation, we are on track to deliver our goal of hosting the most inclusive World Expo ever,” he added.

Schneider, said: “Our participation at Expo 2020 Dubai is in line with the continuing excellent relations between the UAE and Luxembourg.”

“By promoting innovation and sustainable development, the profile of Expo 2020 fits perfectly with our national policy of economic diversification, in particularly with regard to the space sector, clean technologies and to information and communication technologies,” he continued.

“Our participation at expo is a unique opportunity for making the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and all its economic advantages even better known on the international scene, and more particularly in the Middle East,” he added.

The spiral-shaped Luxembourg Pavilion, which is inspired by a Möbius strip, will be located in the Opportunity District. It will contain an exhibition space, a multi-purpose area, a restaurant, administrative offices and technical facilities.

The design and architecture will focus on the issues related to resources, both in a wider sense and in detail, by relying on the principles of the circular economy and interconnection. It will illustrate Luxembourg’s ambition, promoting the country’s ability to reinvent itself and its commitment to sustainable growth.

The design was chosen following an open tender process where teams of architects, engineers and scenographers were asked to provide a holistic view of Luxembourg embedded in the theme ‘Resourceful Luxembourg’.

The tender process ended in April 2017 and architects Metaform and the scenographers from The Space Factory were later appointed to design the pavilion.

Expo 2020 opens on October 20, 2020, and closes six months later, on April 10, 2021. More than 180 countries are expected to participate, with further national participation announcements expected in the coming months, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service